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DDs basketball games

Gah! I'm starting two new threads in one day!

Okay, so my DD is in basketball this year and I have been TRYING to get some decent shots of the game. It's a pain! Those girls MOVE!

Last time was in our gym and I kept focusing in on the background. There was plenty of light so I didn't need to use a flash and I used my zoom lens. I believe that time I just set it on the sports setting.

Tonight I decided to try my 50mm out with it stopped all the way down. I didn't think a flash would do much good and the gym we were at has worse lighting then ours. A LOT of the pictures are just too blurry to use. A lot have part of the girl in focus with the rest of her blurred.

We've got 2 games left this season and I'm hoping to do better. Any advice? Will my SB600 make any difference? I worry it would be too distracting for the girls too.

Oh, I've been on the sidelines sitting, not at the end of the courts. I'm thinking the end might be better because at least then I can have them coming at me instead of trying to pan. Panning is something new and I'm not skilled, lol.

You are trying to shoot one of the toughest things to capture,
speed and never enough light. Crank the ISO up and put up with a little
noise, usually better than a blurry shot. You can fix some noise in pp. If you have to, underexpose a little to keep ss up, but not too much because of the noise it will introduce when you bring the picture back up in pp. I avoid flash when I take BB game shots, too distracting to the players imo. Shoot in A or S and not sport mode. Shooting as they are coming at you will be difficult if your ss is not fast, with a shallow dof, they are out of focus before the photo is taken.

I am not a fan of dynamic or continuous focus, even though they are
always recommended for sport shooting.

Likewise, I didn't know...but I spent a few minutes googling it before I scrolled down and saw your post.

All I can suggest is pump the ISO up as high as you can bear to have it (Say 400-800) - Noisy pictures are better than blurry ones. Then just use the tactic I use for fast moving objects - Shoot a tonne of pictures, and hope some of them turn out!

Glad I got the DD DS DH DW thing... I saw another board a couple weeks ago and thought someone was talking about their Divorced Husband! LOL! Now that thread would have a whole NEW meaning... lol.

I think I recently mentioned that I am tiring of the ISO 1000 shots I am having to take for my son's (oops DS's) basket-ball games. I have had a lot of luck with the 50mm sitting behind the hoop. In most of our games that can only be done on one end of the court. The other end is for traffic, and the gym cops move you.

When you say stopped down that normally referrs to a higher f-number - I am assuming that you meant wide open? f/1.8

Agreed... This is about as challenging of an event as you will find. And for what it is worth - I recommend never shooting with a flash for kids sports.